Diman disrupts softball’s perfection

Friday

Jun 8, 2007 at 2:00 AM

Semifinals

By Allison Goldsmith I&M Sports Editor

After walking off the field victorious 19 straight times, the Whalers met their match Tuesday in the semifinal round of the playoffs. The previously undefeated varsity softball team was eliminated from the Division III South sectional tournament by Diman 7-1.

The top-seeded Whalers had earned the trip to the final four with a 4-3, eight-inning victory over Provincetown in front of a substantial home crowd on Sunday.

Despite the loss, the Whalers finished the historic season 19-1 overall. The Whalers successes were supported by the community in their only home playoff game against Provincetown on Sunday, as more than 400 fans came out to cheer them on.

“I have never seen a crowd like that. It definitely gave it a real tournament atmosphere. The plus to the whole game was that we were in a real tight ball game. We were in game where we were behind, came back, stayed composed, tied it, stayed composed and won it,” head coach Chris Maury said.

Nantucket will graduate two key seniors this spring – third baseman Maryanne Bradley and left fielder Stephanie Norris – but the young Whalers have a number of returning starters, including three starting pitchers, coming back next year.

Against their most difficult opponent all season, the Whalers’ defense was not as solid as it could have been, and for the second game in a row, the bats were quiet. This time they were up against a team that could take advantage.

“I think we lost to a better team. They hit the ball better than we did. They fielded better than we did. We made too many mistakes,” Maury said.

Fourth-seeded Diman (16-5) led only 4-1 going into the seventh inning before tacking on three more runs to blow open the lead.

“We went toe-to-toe with them for a while. We haven’t been able to put our bats on the ball in the last two games,” Maury said, speculating that the 10-day layoff between the regular season and the tournament games may have hurt the Whalers’ rhythm.

Nantucket scored a total of five runs in two tournament games.

“We have seen some great fielding teams in the last two games. Provincetown did not have enough offense to beat us, but Diman did,” Maury said.

Diman put two runners on in the first inning, but the Whalers escaped the jam when Jess Guevara took the throw from the outfield and made the head’s-up throw to the plate to cut the runner down trying to score. In the second the Bengals broke through and put a three-spot on the board, capitalizing on three Whalers errors.

Olivia Hull pitched her way out of trouble in the third and fourth innings, but a triple to deep center in the fifth, set up the fourth run of the game for Diman.

The Whalers scored their only run of the game in the bottom of the fifth. Norris reached on an error, went to second on the overthrow and third on a sacrifice fly from Grace-Anne Tornovish. She scored on a passed ball.

Trailing only 4-1 in the sixth, Nantucket had runners on first and third with one out, but Diman served up an infield double-play ball to escape the jam.

Hull pitched all seven innings, allowing only one earned run on six hits, while striking out four. Shantel Hanniford and Bradley each went 2-for-3, while Norris was 1-for-3 with the only run scored. Cassie Moran doubled in the fifth.

Quarterfinals

Against Provincetown, who they had defeated 17-1 and 11-1 during the regular season, the softball team seemed to be set up for the easy victory. But the Fishermen came in and played as a totally different squad than in the first two meetings.

“That’s a much better team than you realize. You coach for a while and you start to recognize athletic ability and they have some athletes and they are well-coached. They improved the second time we played them. Coming in (on Sunday), they had nothing to lose. They played a very good ball game, you can’t take anything anyway from them.

They gave it their best effort, particularly defensively. They made a number of great plays, there were at least three diving catches in that game. Couple that with the fact we were having trouble handling their pitcher made for an exciting game,” Maury said.

After allowing two runs in the top of the first inning, Provincetown pitcher Melissa Lomba set down 14 straight batters, including six strikeouts to keep her team in the game.

“We had no games in 10 days and we have been working in practice on facing quicker pitching because going into the tournament that’s what we expected we would see. And what we saw was a girl that has an awkward motion and a low delivery. We were so far out in front of it, everything was coming off the end of the bat,” Maury said.

While the Whalers offense was struggling at the plate, Hull was doing all she could to hold the Fishermen in check.

“There is a lot of pressure in that pitching circle and I think she handled herself tremendously,” Maury said. “What you look for from your pitcher is control – to keep the ball around the strike zone. You have good defense behind you, let them work a little bit, but when people get on base and get into scoring position, you really need to take it up a notch and that’s where she really did.”

In the first and third innings Hull struck out batters for the final out with a runner on third base and used her defense to get out of jams later in the game.

The Fishermen got on the board in the third inning. Simone Rose knocked a triple to deep right field and scored when a ball hit by Sara Roderick got through the right side of the infield.

In the fifth inning Provincetown took the lead. With a walk and two sacrifice bunts to the pitcher, Molly Costa scored the game-tying run. Holly Rose doubled to left and came home to score the go-ahead run on a bunt single by Roderick.

“The biggest thing there we are looking for is that you want to stay away from a big inning – make sure you make the out,” Maury said.

Second baseman Tornovish made an over-the-shoulder running grab in short right field to get the Whalers out of the inning.

Trailing late in the ball game for the first time this season, the Whalers’ reserve was tested. In the top of the sixth inning, Bradley doubled, advanced to second on a passed ball and came in on a sacrifice fly to center by Molly Lentowski to tie the game.

Provincetown put runners on second and third with one out in the top of the seventh, but Hull struck out one and Tornovish threw out the runner on a ground-out to get out of the inning still tied.

The Whalers looked like they would take the game in the bottom of the seventh. Katie McInerney singled, and Parinda Darden pinch-running stole second base. After Tornovish was hit by a pitch, Moran came up with the fake-bunt, swinging attack. The junior captain knocked the ball to left field, for what looked like a sure-hit. But the Provincetown left fielder made a running catch and the head’s-up throw to second for the double play to end the inning.

Hull set the Fishermen down in order in the top of the eighth inning, setting the stage for the Whalers’ comeback. Guevara reached on a walk and on a sacrifice bunt attempt from Hanniford advanced to third base with no outs when the pitcher bobbled the ball. Then with two outs, freshman Lindsay Fry lofted the flare into center field to plate Guevara with the game-winner.

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